92 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 261. 



Cathcartite, found, I believe, in a Scottish garden, is a form 

 with twin spathes and no green markings on the sepals. G. 

 fiavescens has yellow markings on the inner petals and a yel- 

 low ovary. This was found in Northumberland by Mr. Boyd, 

 and it is found a stronger grower than G. lutescens, which is of 

 somewhat similar character, but with the yellow of a paler 

 tint. This was also found in Northumberland, but in a dif- 

 ferent garden, and by Mr. Sanders, of Cambridge. G. major 

 is said to be a large flowered form of G. nivalis, and is one 

 which I only succeeded in obtaining last autumn. 



Among varieties of G. nivalis, Melvillei, a seedling raised 

 at Dunrobin Castle by Mr. D. Melville, has stouter and longer 

 leaves and stem and large flowers. Pallidus is a pale green 

 marked variety of rather earlier habit than the type. Poculi- 

 forriiis was originally raised at Dunrobin, but afterward foimd 

 also in Wales. This has the inner perianth segments nearly 

 as long as the outer, and the green markings are entirely ab- 

 sent. Reflexus does not seem to be in cultivation, but I 

 understand the name is given on account of the inner seg- 

 ments being partly reflexed. A double form of this has been 

 catalogued, but I have found it not forthcoming when ordered. 

 Scharloki has twin leafy spathes and large green spots near 

 the base of the outer sepals. Serotinus, another Dunrobin 

 seedling, is a very small form, fiowering even later than G. 

 aestivalis. Virescens is more valued as a curiosity than for its 

 beauty, the sepals being striped with green near the base and 

 the inner petals nearly all green except the margins. The 

 ordinary form of G. nivalis is well known, and, in addition, 

 there are a few seedling doubles which have not yet deen dis- 

 tributed. 



There are a considerable number of other forms of G. 

 nivalis, varying in form, stature and markings, and it is highly 

 probable that others will be found in gardens now that atten- 

 tion has been more widely attracted to the existing varieties. 

 I have heard of plants of G. nivalis which were found near Gals- 

 ton in Scotland, and which had stems twenty inches in length 

 and with flowers of proportionate size. The bulbs were 

 lifted, and are being grown in order to ascertain if this large 

 form will prove permanent, or is only due to exceptional soil 

 or position. 



G. Imperati, which is a sub-species of G. nivalis, has broader 

 leaves and larger flowers. It is a native of Naples and Genoa, 

 and, like the other sub-species, G. Caucasicus, has produced 

 some fine varieties. Atkinsi is one of the finest of these, 

 being of large size and purity of color. I am indebted to Mr. 

 Allen for this variety, and for some others. Boydi is another 

 very fine form, having flowers occasionally one and a half 

 inches long. G. Caucasicus, which is the Caucasian form of G. 

 nivalis, has broader leaves than the type and is later in flower- 

 ing. According to Mr. Baker, this sub-species includes Re- 

 doutei, major, and Caspicus of Ruprecht. Mr. Baker also 

 seems to consider G. virescens a variety of G. Caucasicus, 

 although Mr. F. W. Burbidge only mentions it as a variety of 

 G. nivalis. 



G. latifolius, which flowers in this country in February and 

 March, is a very distinct species from the Caucasus, with 

 broad, shining green — not glaucous — leaves, and small white 

 flowers one-half to three-quarter inches long, with only a green 

 patch in the outside and inside of the inner segments. There 

 is a fine variety of this called latifolius major. 



G. Fosteri, introduced from Amasia in the province of 

 Sirwas, Asia Minor, and named in honor of the introducer, 

 Professor M. Foster, is one of our latest acquisitions, which 

 has been the subject of considerable criticism, due to its pre- 

 senting much variation. It is supposed to be a hybrid between 

 G. latifolius and G. Elwesi, and has broad green leaves with 

 somewhat similar markings on the flowers to those of G. 

 Elwesi. The first of this which I bloomed gave me consider- 

 able disappointment, but other flowers caused me to modify 

 my earlier opinions, and the best forms are well worthy of 

 cultivation. 



G. plicatus, readily recognized by its plicate leaves, is now 

 fairly well known. It is a native of the Crimea, and, although 

 not so well formed as some of the others, is valuable from its 

 late-flowering habit, it being the last in flower. Several varie- 

 ties are now in cultivation, some of these bemg seedlings and 

 others selected forms. The first, Maximus, has long, narrow 

 flowers, which, in favorable conditions, are quite two inches 

 long. The other, Chapeli, has smaller flowers, but these are 

 of fine form and with broad petals. Several hybrids raised 

 between G. plicatus and G. nivalis, by Mr. W. Thomson, of 

 High Blantyre, have been described, and Mr. Allen has 

 another seedling apparently of the same origin, but not ob- 

 tained by artificial fertilization. — S. Arnott, in the Journal of 

 Horticulture. 



Small Greenhouses. 



A T this season, when greenhouse plants are mostly at their 

 ■^"^ best, it always seems pertinent to make a plea for more 

 small greenhouses. Such a building is especially indispensa- 

 ble where many plants are grown, if they are to be cultivated 

 with the minimum of care and the maximum of success. Yet 

 among amateurs of small or moderate means there is a gen- 

 eral disinclination to build such houses, usually from the sup- 

 posed expense. Of course, large amounts may be invested in 

 fancy greenhouses, but examination of a commercial house, 

 built plainly, according to modern methods, will show that 

 such forms may be built on a small scale at a very moderate 

 cost, the construction being simple and the material not ex- 

 pensive. The different horticultural builders offer small port- 

 able houses at a moderate price, but much cheaper green- 

 houses can be constructed at home with the aid of a carpen- 

 ter, by one who is capable of planning the building. The 

 cheapest construction is a space roofed over with cold-frame 

 sash spanning an enclosure the walls of which are formed of 

 two thicknesses of one-inch boards, with paper-lining between. 

 Two rows of sash will make a ten-foot house and the length 

 would be multiples of three feet. 



Friends with whom I talk are deterred by cost of heating 

 rather than the cost of building, and a cheap heater for green- 

 houses is needed. Great ingenuity has been wasted in devis- 

 ing schemes to heat conservatories and small greenhouses, 

 which have proved to be mere make-shifts and would quickly 

 be discarded if a satisfactory appliance of low first cost were 

 to be had. 



The patent base-burning heaters now offered by several 

 firms are perfect appliances, but for a fifteen or eighteen foot 

 house an outfit could scarcely be had under fifty dollars. A 

 very good outfit may be made for much less by securing a 

 round cast-iron stove, and having a smith bend an inch pipe 

 in three or four coils to fit the inside, with ends passing through 

 the side of the stove. These are to be joined with expanding 

 fittings to two-inch pipe, the upper one for flow and the lower 

 one for return. These pipes can be bought cut to proper sizes, 

 and with white-lead in oilcan be quickly and tightly joined. It 

 is always well to have plenty of radiating surface, and if the 

 house is exposed these pipes should be carried around three 

 sides of it. At the ends furthest from the stove there will be 

 needed an expansion-tank, and this can be made of a water- 

 tight box or cask, into which the ends of the pipe may be in- 

 serted and packed with oakum. If one can secure a second- 

 hand stove, such an outfit, with pipe at fifteen cents per foot, 

 will not prove costly, and will give satisfactory results equal to 

 a patented article. Of course, the stove must stand in a ven- 

 tilated separate apartment, to avoid gas and dust, and must be 

 capable of perfect regulation in the way of dampers. Hot- 

 water circulation from coal heat is the only satisfactory way to 

 heat such a house, and is also the cheapest. No doubt, houses 

 are heated by coal-oil stoves with an infinity of care and 

 anxiety, but there are numerous reasons why these are not 

 permanently satisfactory. All coal-oil burners have a mod- 

 erate length of life, and will eventually give off injurious fumes. 

 It is very difficult to arrange a connection between a stove and 

 outside air without back drafts, which are dangerous. One 

 sees occasionally reports of successful heating of houses by 

 coal-oil stoves burning in the open house with no outside con- 

 nection. As the stove is a great consumer of oxygen, which 

 is usually only too scarce in a gceenhouse, it is difficult to under- 

 stand this suspension of natural laws. Besides, the stove set in 

 any part of the house naturally starts drafts toward it. If it is used 

 to start a hot-water circulation the expense is, of course, equal 

 to the fittings with a coal stove. It is unnecessary to say tliat, 

 as compared with coal, the units of heat will cost more from 

 high-test oil such as it is safe and pleasant to use. These re- 

 marks apply only to a greenhouse proper, where one wishes a 

 night temperature of, say, fifty degrees in December, gradually 

 rising to sixty degrees as plants commence to move freely. 

 Such a house may be successfully run with the simple ar- 

 rangement here described, and there will be spare heat enough 

 to allow for ample venfllation in all fit weather. A coal-oil 

 stove with proper outside connection will answer very well for 

 houses from which it is only intended to exclude frost, but 

 such a house is merely a storeroom for plants more conve- 

 nient than a cold frame, but not such a place as is required for 

 ordinary collections of plants or adapted to securing the great- 

 est pleasure for the grower. 



A type of conservatory or greenhouse common in small 

 towns is that procured by enclosing a veranda. These places 

 usually suffer from stagnant air, produced in the endeavor to 

 heat them from the surplus heat of the dwelling. They offer 



